Chocolate Box Country

Over the Easter break, we decided to keep it local, so we rented a car and made our way up to the Cotswolds for the long weekend.  Renowned for its picture-perfect scenery, good enough to be put on the front of a chocolate box, we were keen to take long walks, maybe cycle a bit and take in the spring views.

We arrived late in the afternoon on the Thursday and, after a brief detour through some fields to get some cell phone reception, were greeted at the recently opened Longmeadow B&B by the owners carrying a tray of freshly brewed coffee and plates of Victoria sponge...  Delicious!  That sponge ultimately constituted our dinner.

Throughout the weekend, we pottered around the various villages, ate cream tea (what is the deal with clotted cream? How is it so scrummy?) and basically just chilled out. 

Our first stop was the comparatively large Chipping Campden, just down the road.  We gave the Badger Tea Rooms a go...  but kind of wish we hadn't, and stumbled the Campden Gallery exhibiting the works of Kurt Jackson, who we both liked (!!!).  Sadly, the paintings stayed on the gallery wall - we weren't prepared to part with the 23 grand required to obtain our favourite piece!

After that, Burton-on-the-Water and Snowshill (Bridget Jones was apparently filmed here) stand out as being particularly gorgeous.  For all the villages, it seems as though there's a building dress-code.  You must be made of a certain yellow and veined type of stone, you must have daffodils planted in your garden, thatched roof optional.

nom nom NOM NOM NOOOOOM

The food was a mixed bag, but when it was good, it was very very good.  The Ebrington Arms was a particular highlight.  I still dream of my duck liver parfait starter....  Mmmmmmmm, gooooooooooooood.  No wonder we only just scored a table!

The Cotswolds also has a castle, Broadway Tower.  So we climbed it.  Turns out, its had a varied past...  Thanks to its both picturesque and remote location, it has been favoured by local artists and was used during the Cold War to monitor nuclear fall out, with easy access to its own nuclear bunker.  Two things that I'm sure don't often go together.

Other than that, we pretty much ate chocolate...  Easter eggs were delivered with our breakfast on Easter Sunday, which was brilliant.  Religious festival = observed.

On our way back to London, we thought we'd swing by Stonehenge and take a look.  The massive queue and the 14 quid entry fee kind of put us off, so we followed the other cheap skates down the nearby country lane that offered fair-middling views without the price tag.  Whatever, it's ticked off the list!

A very relaxing and enjoyable weekend, really.  A good build up to our next adventure in Italy...

TTFN
M&K

In Bruges

Melissa:  Sweetie, where do you want to go for your birthday?
Kyle:  I want to go to Bruges and drink Belgian beer all weekend.

Well, alright then.

Head over we did, with VP and Dom for a beer-soaked weekend in the Flemish countryside at the end of March. Arriving on Friday night, we had just enough time for a late meal at Christophe, before heading off to bed.

The next morning we started exploring Bruges properly.  We wandered through the (cough) four streets soaking up the atmosphere.  Having had a pretty mild winter, spring was starting to flex its muscles so it was really lovely - quiet, still and low key.

Turns out, you CAN have too much mayo

Lunch consisted of the famous frites soaked in mayonnaise.  And when I say soaked....  We needed this fortifying nourishment as we were about to embark on our first bike tour in over a year.  Four hours through the countryside with a guy who took exception to Kyle's pink shorts. 

Picturesque warfare residue

It was fantastic.  We saw operational windmills, canals built by Napoleon and a farmer herding his flock of sheep.  Randomly, we also were introduced to the local cattle, famous because they have been bred to produce offspring so huge that the cows can't give birth without surgical help.  So they all have visible scars from their caesarean sections...  Weird!  But interesting!  To top it all off, we stopped in a wee village called Damme for a beer and a real Belgian waffle topped with chocolate ice cream.  Amazing.

 

After a wee rest, we were back on the streets for some dinner. It was at this point that the birthday boy really started to see out his aim for the weekend.  Beers were sampled while food was consumed.  We roamed the streets and found a couple of bars, one which was practically underground and had to be entered via a very low, almost Hobbit-door. Eventually, one poor beer was pushed under a table to hide it from view...  but, alas, it was too late.

The next morning, we quietly rose and gently made it to a cafe for a coffee and a croissant.  We were then rudely serenaded by an idiot constantly blowing his whistle whilst strutting about with a bass drum strapped to his stomach.  Just what we needed.  Kyle especially was not amused.

Sunday morning punishment

Not to be deterred, we made our way to our lunch reservation.  Unable to get a table for dinner at this place the night before, we settled for a three course lunch instead.  VP, Dom and I had a marvellous meal.  Kyle enjoyed his half an apple juice.  

Only I found this funny at the time.

Then, there was just time for a final wander through the streets.  We made it into the courtyard of the bell tower, but none of us could really face the queue or the climb up to the top.  Thank goodness we didn't have time.  Instead, one of our party took the opportunity to have a wee power nap, which seemed to have an amazing restorative effect.  Suddenly perky, it was time to head back to train station and return to London.


Overall, a good time had by all but, sometimes, you have to be careful what you wish for.

M&K

Summer Down South

New Year's Eve 2013 was spent at 10,000 feet winging our way home to ole Un-Zud for the first time in two years.  The cherry on the top was that the flight attendants were handing out Singapore Slings.  Fantastic.

Invited to attend the beautiful wedding of one of Kyle's school mates and his stunning bride in Petone also gave us the long awaited opportunity to catch up with friends and family.  Not to mention sample some of the countries finest wares that are no longer at our finger tips.

Tip top - we love you.

After a few days of rain of the kind we'd not experienced since we'd left, Wellington thankfully put on a pearler for Dave's special day - where we took part in our first ceilidh! 

It was a jam packed 10 days.  We visited as many people as we could, saw how children had grown and met the new ones who'd arrived (all over the place - honestly, is there something in the water???).  Mum was brilliant at helping us cross all our culinary requirements off the list and we visited a few of our favourite old haunts too.  Big shout out to the pepper steak pie on the drive round the bays.

On our way back to the UK, we stopped off in Singapore for a few days to break up the trip and to have a look around at the Chinese New Year festivities.

Year of the Horse

Only our second visit to an Asian country, we got amongst the food and drink, including the eye-poppingly good, bright purple dragonfruit juice and resident dish, chilli crab.

And the sights and sounds.  We visited the Singapore Zoo night safari, wandered down Orchard Road and past the waterfront, complete with Merlion.

All in all, it was a good couple of weeks away.  Fantastic to see everyone again, even if it was only for a very short while. 

Joyeux Noel 2013

Paris at Christmas...  Must be romantic and festive...  Right?

Sadly for me, I was WELL hungover by the time we got on the train.  Twas the work Christmas do the night before, which I enjoyed slightly too much.  Oops.  Anyway, so we found ourselves on the Eurostar, one of us in a jumper with a reindeer on the front.  Nice.  Needless to say, I slept all the way there with my mouth open and didn't care one little bit.

After a quiet night of re-hydration via cranberry juice and bizarrely cold steak and a brief wander of the almost red light district where our apartment turned out to be, we set about ticking off the sites we'd missed in our first trip to gay Paree back in March 2012.

First up, Notre Dame.  Another gorgeous cathedral...  I had to drag my tired, sorry behind around as Kyle set what seemed to be a furious pace.  Meanie.

We found that bridge where people attach padlocks of eternal love.  There were thousands of them - the only conclusion to draw, in the immortal words of Hugh Grant, is that, actually, love really is all around.

After that, there was another mightily long yet aesthetically pleasing walk down to Napoleon's completely well proportioned tomb.  He didn't have small man syndrome at all.  Nope!  Europe's arguably smallest dictator now lies in the below.

Such reservation

It was a beautiful day, so what else should we do but walk some more?  So we wandered back through the Trocadero Gardens up to the Palais de Chaillot for a view le Tour Eiffel as dusk started to fall.  The Gardens were lined with Christmas Markets, but we were unenthused.  The memory of our Dusseldorf fail was still very fresh and, besides, chowing down on bratwurst while in France just doesn't seem right.  Even at Christmas.  But the view was difficult to beat.

Second favourite hunk of metal

After that, we found an amazing restaurant down the road called L'Apibo for a five course chef's tasting menu of complete deliciousness.  Thank goodness, too.  We had started to think you couldn't eat well in Paris.  But you can!  After all that walking, we deserved a decent meal.  And then more walking!



We went to check on Mary M before trundling back to the apartment for some sleep.

 

The next morning was another pearler.  Perfect for more walking - this time, after girding ourselves with some croissants and coffee, we meandered through the Tuileries Garden, where we stopped by a pond to rest and watch the birds (and maybe have a sneaky wee nap).

Not bad at all for "winter"

Then it was off down the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de triomphe.  Last time we were there it was a really grim day, so it was good to see it with its Sunday best on, so to speak.

Gorgeous.  The Arc's not bad, either.

Following that, there was only really time to head back, grab our stuff and make our way back to London.

Two weeks later, it was Christmas for real.  We were very fortunate to be adopted by the wider Von D clan for an amazing family feast and frivolity.  A thoroughly enjoyable end to another fab year. 

Lovely jubbly,
M&K xxx

Random Pre-Christmas Fun

Late last year, I was forced, kicking and screaming all the way, back into an (albeit haphazard and fair weather only) exercise regime.  The culprit?  One, Louise Yarrall.

I was signed up for a Pretty Muddy run to raise money for Breast Cancer Research - a worthy cause, as always.  As the name suggests, this race involves running, in mud.

Before

After

Since that went really well and was huge fun, Teams Reid and von Yarrall were then entered into a Santa Run through Battersea Park.  Yep, hundreds of people running while dressed as santa.  Good times!

Ready to race!

Warming up with some festive aerobics

We also paid a visit to the Harry Potter studios, which had been decked out for Christmas (i.e. covered in fake snow).  So cool!  It had all the sets, including the potions room, with self-stirring cauldrons, Griffindor common room etc etc and all the costumes, creatures and special effects.  Highly entertaining.

 

 

 

Just a "leetle" bit excited...

 

 

We had been excited by the prospect of trying Butterbeer...  but it turns out it was really sweet, really gritty, and really gross.  Oh well, put on a brave face!

 

Mmmm, butterbeer....

Is there time for one more trip before the year's end?  Yeah....  probably....

Au revoir!

M&K xxx

You Can't Win 'Em All

Last year, we had an amazing time in Vienna mooching around Christmas markets, eating Christmassy food, drinking Christmassy drinks, humming Christmassy songs and generally feeling Christmassy.  It was such a good time, we were inspired to try to repeat the fun with different surroundings.  Dusseldorf was recommended, not only for itself, but also it's proximity to Cologne, and so we booked some tickets for a weekend at the end of November.

And so began the epic fail.

We arrived on the Friday night and wandered down to the river front to start taking in the atmosphere.  We ate reibekuchen (similar to last year's kartoffelpoffel) with apple sauce and drank gluhwein.  We rode the, erm, Dusseldorf Eye while drinking gluhwein - very little skill required there, I might add.  All was going well and we fell asleep planning to hit Cologne the next day and then cover the rest of Dusseldorff on the Sunday.

On Saturday we navigated our way to the train station, managed to buy two tickets to Cologne from the confusing ticket machines and boarded a train.  As it pulled out of the station, Kyle started to investigate where exactly the Markets were...  What do you know?  They were due to start the next weekend....!  So we hopped off the train again at the first stop and headed back to D-town.

So the rest of Saturday was spent roaming the streets, drinking all the gluhwein (red and white, oh the variety) and eating all the reibekuchen.

Argh, this is so hard to write - the lameness intensified...

Mmmm, pensioner brekkie

We thought we could spend the Sunday rinsing and repeating Saturday's Plan B, but fate had other plans...  It turns out, the last Sunday in November, in Germany, is something-a-rather Day of the Dead.  The day where you stay home, be quiet and remember... the dead.  Needless to say, 98% of the shops were shut.  So we had brunch with some pensioners, ate ice cream in a closed shopping mall in the middle of winter and then went to the airport 2 hours early and "watched" the ABs play Ireland on our phones.

It is NEVER too cold for ice cream, especially when it is the ONLY thing to do

Boo.  Hiss.  Crappy.

There's Whisky in the Jar

Cheap flights meant a quick weekend in Dublin for Team Reid in October. 

We arrived late on Friday night, with just enough time to experience a plate of proper Irish Stew and the end of the rugby before bed.

mmm, diddly dee potatoes

On Saturday we absorbed some culture, starting with a tour of Trinity College and it's amazing library (used in Harry Potter) and a quick look at the Book of Kells - we couldn't take any photos of it, so the pic below is kindly supplied by Wikipedia, but is of a page we saw.  Just beautiful and to think, all drawn by hand by some very patient and meticulous monks...

After a bit of lunch in Temple Bar (more about that later) we went for a long walk to take in the waterfront.  On the way, we passed U2's old studio, immortalised by their fans in graffiti.  Eat that, Banksy.

An afternoon nap and another excellent meal at the same pub we'd been to the night before and we were ready to experience the Dublin nightlife that we'd heard so much about.  We made our way back to Temple Bar as we'd been advised that this was where "the magic happens".  It reminded me a lot of Courtenay Place in that it had a seemingly endless rows of bars and pubs and street performers.  Only difference was, these buskers can play.  We encountered a band called Mutefish as they were finishing up with this song.  We would have liked to hear more, but apparently it was past their bedtime.  So we headed off to re-wet our whistles in a pub with an amazing three-piece band that covered virtually anything and everything with a distinctly Irish flavour.  With the sound of a well-played penny whistle and more than a couple of G&T's/guinnesses running through our heads it was off to bed ourselves.

After a hearty breakfast the next morning, we strode off to, just let me check the spelling, Kilmainham Gaol.  Famous for being a leader in early 1900s prison design - it features one of the first examples of the "eye of god" cell arrangement I thought was just how prisons are...  The three S's were promoted here - separation, silence and supervision.  Individual cells for each inmate meant a guard could see all cells at a glance, no matter where he was standing at the time.  Also, they came up with the idea of the mugshot here, since it was too easy to have an alias but harder to hide your face, scars and tattoos etc.  Seriously fascinating. 

But as if that weren't enough, the Gaol is also famous for being the place where the participants of the ultimately doomed 1916 Easter Rising were held and then executed.  Having studied Irish history at high school, particularly the Rising, this was a real highlight, although grim. 



Hungry and a bit sober, in all senses of the word, we made our way to the Guinness factory.  Shaped like a giant pint glass, this place doesn't take itself too seriously.  But they do make good beef ribs. 

They taught us how to taste it properly from a tiny pint glass, once you'd smelled all the key ingredients and then you learned how to pour a full pint of your own. 

I liked it from the tiny pint, but something happened to the flavour when the size of the vessel was increased.  Odd.  So Kyle got to dispose of my big pint. 

And that was all we had time for, to be sure.

Four score, 6 months ago....

I know...  I've been extremely slack with my updates....  Apologies and swiftly moving on...

Following our amazing week in New York, we hopped aboard a train with Jayden and Caz to Washington, DC.  Caz's brother Mikey kindly put us up for the final week of our American adventure so we could get some culture in the birthplace of democracy. 

A dramatic change of pace from the Big Apple, DC was no less a fantastic experience and must be equally as photographed.

1 - Political Landmarks
Obviously, this is a very broad umbrella term for a city with a history like DC's.  We tried to squeeze in as many of these sites as we could and, if I do say so myself, I think we did really well.  Just a few months after our visit, the US federal government shut down and all the monuments had to close, so phew. 

Here's a quick sample of the highlights:

Mount Vernon - George Washington's Virginian estate where he lived post-Presidency, including his tomb.  The view from the porch could easily have been NZ.

On the Post-Presidential Porch

Final resting place of George and Martha

The Lincoln Memorial, Reflecting Pool and Washington Monument - eerie.  You can almost feel Lincoln challenging you to do something meaningful with your life or encouraging you to be a better person.  The reflecting pool was filled with algae (unexpected) and Forrest Gump was nowhere in sight. 

I abolished slavery, what have you done???

At the time, the Washington Monument was covered in scaffolding after suffering damage in an earthquake.  Kind of looks like a massive (phallic) Meccano set now.

The White House - the building Hollywood likes to blow up the most, pleasingly intact.  A few days after our visit, we were watching the Obama's on the lawn taking part in the 9/11 Memorial Service on the news.  On the tv a few blocks away.  D'oh!  Not a win on the planning front.  But, at least we had an unobstructed view on the day we did go.

The Capitol Building - Amazing and beautiful building that oozes a sense of historical significance.  The air and the atmosphere seem to carry the weight of the important events conducted within.  And if you don't pick that up on your own, the guides, the art and the statuary will most certainly ram it home.  It was fascinating though.  A highlight was seeing Reagan's statue with crumbs of the Berlin Wall lining the plinth he's standing on.                                                                             

The National Archives - housing the original copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the US Constitution.  The DoI is pretty faded, but the guards had fun pointing out some of the interesting things about the documents - spelling mistakes, a handprint(which I was told by a straight-faced guard was absolutely not Nicolas Cage's) and the signatures of the giants of US political history, including the first to sign - John Hancock.  Say it with me now... OH!  So that's where that saying comes from....  Yes, yes it does.


And, arguably most important of all (to us), we got to visit the NZ High Commission, directly opposite VP Joe Biden's house and down the road from Hilary Clinton's pad.  You can't throw a stone in that city without hitting something note-worthy.  The thing that really amazed me was the nonchalant way Mikey would point these places out, i.e. "that's Hilary Clinton's house just there.  Don't stare too hard, that car over there is a Secret Service vehicle and they get twitchy if you gawp".  EEP!  Being arrested by the Secret Service is not on our bucket list, so it was eyes front til the end of the street. 

Kyle made a new friend at the NZHC

2 - Military landmarks 
We saw the memorials to the two world wars, the Vietnam War and the Korean War, but the one that made the biggest and most sobering impression on us had to be Arlington Cemetery.

Row upon row of white headstones as far as the eye could see from every major conflict and dating back from the Civil War right through to a few that were a just a few days old.  By the sheer number of stones alone, you couldn't help but be moved. 

Additionally, there was the eternal flame memorial for JFK as well as memorials to the Unknown Soldiers, constantly guarded by servicemen in full (blisteringly hot) uniforms, those lost in the Challenger disaster and in the events that inspired "Argo". 

3 - Food...
What blog would be complete without a section on culinary delights?  In this category, DC did not disappoint.  Even now, cough, 6 months later, certain meals stick out in my mind.  First up, Ben's Chili Bowl.  World famous to the locals and a favourite of Bill Cosby, this no frills restaurant serves up amazing smoked pork hot dogs, chili fries and buckets of ice cold milkshake....  Mmmmmm chili fries....  the true pity is, they only taste good State-side.

The other place I'll never forget is this pizza place Mikey took us to called "We, The Pizza".  Yep, no lack of a sense of humour there...  We gorged on delicious pizza (which they insisted on calling "pies") and hot wings with blue cheese sauce.  I was SO full afterwards.  But not too full to squish in some Ben & Jerry's on top.  

But what was truly lovely were the nights where we'd just cook in Mikey's flat and eat together round the table.  One night we played this incredibly inappropriate card game called Cards for Humanity with tears rolling down our cheeks and on another we watched Pitch Perfect.  Even Jayden gave up pretending he wasn't watching long before the end.  Good.  Times.

4.  More Sports
This time, football.  We went to see the, ahem, Washington Redskins play the Philadelphia Eagles.  Apparently the argument to change their name is gaining momentum...

Interestingly, the home stadium for the 'skins isn't in DC, we had to go to Maryland.  Getting into the ground was...  interesting...  there were STACKS of people and, as I found out, you're not allowed to take a handbag in unless it's within certain dimensions and clear plastic...!  By the time we started the long climb up to our seats, right at the top, the 'skins scored a touchdown.  The whole arena erupted into this.  It was deafening.  The 'skins didn't win the day, but we had a great time.

5. Kiwis meet a Kiwi
Mikey has a friend at Washington Zoo who happens to be the Kiwi Keeper.  She let us spend an hour or so with Pip, a teenage boy kiwi.  Naw, he was so sweet!  We got to feed him...  worms and mushed up stuff that smelled.... unique.  The mushed up stuff was ok, but I left the worms to the others.  Such a sissy. 

After all that, it was time to say goodbye to Mikey and to Caz and Jayden and head back to the UK.  I'll leave you with the theme song from the trip (yes, it had one)...